Before the thunderstorm Drawing

I’m Ukrainian artist Andrii Kovalyk. Now leave in Spain. I paint from what I see during my travels in beautiful places, cities and countries. Drawing things from life brings me real pleasure, because nature and cities are constantly in motion, and I like to convey this pace of life in my paintings. Lately, I've been moving away from the realistic style of painting, which conveys a photographic copy of the scene, and paint something that depicts emotions and impressions with colors. Inspired by nature, I paint with my feelings, leaving room for the viewer's imagination and fantasy. I love getting feedback from people that they see something in my painting that I, as an artist, didn't notice or painted consciously, which is very interesting to me. I am most inspired by nature in its purest form due to its infinite versatility, as well as cities in motion and flowers. I am an icon painter by profession, I studied for five years and in total I was engaged in icon painting for ten years. I made copies of ancient images, icons and churches in the Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery and other museums. In the summer of 2018, I decided to fulfill my childhood dream of traveling and painting, and that's when I started practicing watercolors during my travels. Since then, I have been painting almost all the time while traveling, and during the last four years I have held my own long plein airs in India, Italy, Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey, Greece, Spain. I have received various awards at international watercolor exhibitions and festivals around the world. Most of my paintings are sold to private collectors around the world. I like watercolor painting, because it combines tenderness and boldness, which perfectly fits the format of my plein air. Now I travel by bicycle, it is very interesting and beautiful. People follow my travels and they like it. But I want to paint in large formats with watercolors and other materials, which is not possible when traveling by bicycle. I'm working on my dream of a van-based home studio on wheels. It will be equipped with everything necessary for life and art. This will allow me to travel and paint on larger canvases and go to other places. I also want to take it on a sightseeing trip and want to see and paint the most picturesque places, landscapes and cities that exist on our beautiful and inspiring planet.